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Richelieu Rock Photo Clinic from 13th to 18th of January 2023

20/1/2023

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Richelieu Rock Photo clinic: get the best underwater photography of thailand
2023 started with some fantastic photo opportunities as we ran 2 photo clinic back to back with our special guest Alex Tyrrell from Dive4photos. The first one was our dedicated blackwater expedition with blackwater dives planned every night (click here to read the trip report). Our second cruise of the year was dedicated to getting the best photos Thailand's Andaman Sea can offer and this is why we decided to focus on thailand's best dive site and one of the World's top 10: Richelieu Rock for most of the cruise. 
Underwater photographers from Thailand, India, England, America, South Korea and France enjoyed daily presentations by Alex in order to get the most out of their cameras!
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macro photography of the eggs of a ghotpipefish
closeup of a ghost pipefish pouch full of eggs!
Alex Tyrrell is an award-winning photographer specialised in underwater photography. He owns and operate Dive4photos, the premium facility in Thailand for underwater photography training. He has been teaching and mentoring photographers since 2008, and his expertise in the field has helped many students achieve success.

His understanding of various techniques, such as the use of snoots, sunbursts, silhouettes, and motion blur, is evident in his portfolio. His work has been featured in several dive magazines, including Sport Diver, Scuba Diving, and DIVE Magazine, and he also writes articles on underwater photography techniques for many nice publications.

Throughout this photo expedition, Alex gave us presentations about different UW photo topics such as, choosing your subjects, capturing the perfect Reef Scene, integrating sun ball and Sun beams in your photography, capturing the Peak of action and so much more.
​
We had plenty of time to practice these new skills with no less than 14 dives on Richelieu Rock and I can promise you, we didn't get bored! Every dive with a new opportunity to explore new cracks and cranny and find more colourful critters!
thailand colourful nudibranch
pair of Harlequin shrimps richelieu rock thailand
bannerfish photographed at richelieu Rock
richelieu rock's pair of Harlequin shrimps on the reef
diving with jellyfish in thailand photo clinic
We found the delightful pikachu nudibranch and pretty yet oh so mean harlequin shrimps.
We witnessed clark anemone fish's parents nurturing their eggs under the protective skirt of their anemone.
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Our wide angle captured amazing action with huge ball of jackfish dancing on the reef. There was so much marine life that we didn't know where to look at. School of trevallies, fusillier, yellow goatfish, emperor, batfish, barracuda and glass fish all of this with the pretty pink soft coral that gave Richelieu rock its name! 
ball of jackfish underwater photo clinic thailand
underwater photo clinic thailand capturing fish action
the reef was alive  during this underwater photo clinic on richelieu rock
snappers shot in thailand
colorful reef and fish in thailand
beautiful anemone scene underwater photography
The days were bright and colourful but that didn't stop us from running a few night dives, especially blackwater dives for which The Smiling Seahorse became Thailand's expert!
We tried a new spot near the Surin islands, where we installed two lines to accommodates all the divers more comfortably and what great encounters we had!
blackwater diving in Thailand squid
blackwater diving in Thailand pretty squid
cephalopod on blackwater dive in Thailand
photo clinic with blackwater diving
blackwater diving in thailand, underwater photography
underwater photography on blackwater dive in thailand
moray eel blackwater diving in thailand
photo clinic and blackwater in Surin national park thailand
blackwater diving in Thailand crustaceans at night
What a pleasure it has been to welcome all these talented photographers! Thank you all for coming diving with The Smiling Seahorse, the choice liveaboard for Underwater photographers in Thailand!
underwater photographers having fun in thailand
thanks for a wonderful cruise :)
Thailand liveaboard camera room
our camera room was pretty full this month!

Our next photo clinics with Alex Tyrrell will be in January 2024 and are now opened for bookings!

thailand blackwater photo liveaboard expedition
more info about our Blackwater + photo clinic
thailand underwater photo clinic
more info about the Richelieu ++ photo clinic
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Thailand's Blackwater diving expedition 2023: Similan & Richelieu Rock, Thailand

13/1/2023

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Trip report: Blackwater expedition in Similian + Richelieu Rock
Oups, I'm a bit late posting this one! January has been a busy month full of photo opportunities as we had the pleasure to welcome back onboard our friend and photo-master-extraordinaire Alex Tyrrell, from Dive4photos who came to give daily presentations to our beloved guests on two consecutive photo clinics!

The first one was dedicated to blackwater diving with daily blackwater dives above the deep dark seas! The second one was a more standard "photo clinic" maximising the photo opportunities we could get (check out the next blogpost for more info!)

​For our Blackwater expedition, we welcomed some 
extremely well-equipped underwater paparazzi from Thailand, Singapore, India, USA, and France all ready to have some fun.... 

Our Photo Room has rarely been more crowded by camera, cables, chargers and hundreds of batteries!
Photo room
Photographer's corner
The did the first dive at shark fin reef for a check up dive, then explored west of Eden, elephant head, and finished the day with the first black water dive of the week.

Because this cruise was dedicated to "blackwater diving", we went diving at the edge of the continental plate, a few hours west of the Similan Islands, giving us the opportunity to dive above hundreds of meters of water...
​
And what did we see on these ​Blackwater dives?  We saw so many cool and weird creatures... 
We saw some cool pelagic such as anemone larval stage, some salps, pelagic sea snake, flounder in larval stage and more...

The highlights of the trip where a male paper nautilus, snake blennies and flying gurnard. 
​But photos seak a thousand words so let me show you what it looks like!
filefish thailand blackwater diving
thailand nautilus
Above, from left to right you'll see one of many type of squids we encounter on Blackwater dives in the Andaman Sea. A pretty golden filefish and a male paper nautilus! Read more information about the wonderful nautiluses and their cousins the argonauts... Males don't have shells, females do to keep their eggs close-by :)
Pelagic Nudibranchia
Pelagic Nudibranchia
Larval snake blenny
Larval snake blenny
Crab larval stage
Crab larval stage
Have you ever seen pelagic nudibranch? This is what it looks like (top left), in the middle is a pretty larval snake blenny and on the right a baby crab! so cute!
Pelagic larval stage Tube Anemone
Flounder in larval stage
Larval Shrimp
Pelagic Sea snail
In the 4 photos above, you can see a larval anemone, a larval flouder (before it eyes migrate to the other side of its face! yeah, that's a thing!). You can see a reddish crustacean in front of the cloud of ink a cephalopod left behind and the last photo is the alien looking seasnail crossing oceans with its sail-like tentacules...
Thailand blackwater diving
A sea elephant (Pterotrachea coronata)
flying gurnard thailand blackwater expedition
Flying gurnards, (top left) are rarely seen on regular dives but quite commonly spotted on our blackwater dives.
Morray eels (middle photo) look like this transparent ghost at their larval stage before they grow big enough to settle back to the reef.
The right pic is a sea elephant (Pterotrachea coronata), a finger-sized heteropod - a transparent marine snailusing its trunk-shaped proboscis to hunt its prays. This gastropod looks nothing like your typical terrestrial snail.
Similan Island View Point
Similan Island View Point
We did blackwater dives at nights, that's true and for that you do not want to be on a dive site, but that doesn't mean we didn't want to do some of the best dive sites of Thailand during the days! Above are some photos of Donald duck bay in the Similan islands where we went to dip our toes in white sand and look at the incredible view of the Andaman sea.
Psychedelic Batwing slug
Glossodoris hikuerensis
For me nudi-hunting is like collecting stamps...
You always want to find new ones for your private collection.
Porcelain crab (also known as anemone crab)
Aeolid nudibranch
Squat shrimp on the reef
On our more regular dive sites, our macro lenses encountered saw some colourful nudibranches, shrimps and crabs as well as Harlequin shrimps, Ghost pipe fishes and the likes...
Harlequin shrimps on coral reef
Awesome ghost pipefish
Thank you! Elodie and Emma for the amazing male paper nautilus and pelagic tongue fish you photographed and for everyone else who shared this adventure with us. We loved it and hope you did too!
Thank you for all guest who chose The Smilling Seahorse to take care of you all!
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Happy New Year Trip North to South Andaman from 27th of December 2022 to 3rd of January

11/1/2023

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We welcome this week 14 guests from Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Finland, Japan, United States and England and we had a blast, both on the boat and underwater. Thank you for choosing the MV Smiling Seahorse to “pass the cap” on board. 

Starting the trip in the Surin National Park, the highlight of the first day was a curious guitar shark visiting us on our very first dive! 

Big school of fish, trevally, barracudas and fusilier were  present around the famous Richelieu Rock. Looking on the reef we could spot ghost pipefish, a seahorse and 2 pairs of harlequin shrimps for the pleasure of all!
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Picture
Cruising down south to the Similan National Park for the next two days, everyone really enjoyed Koh Tachai pinnacle which was teeming with life. it’s always great to see the diversity of this ecosystem and two dives are far from enough to see it all. 
The first night dive was at Koh Bon where we saw the tinniest Pygmy squid, plenty of moray eels hunting (some where huge!!!), cool crabs like anemone crab or decorate spider crab. The reef was alight with shrimps eyes shinning in our torches and getting closer we recognised Durban dancing shrimps, transparent cleaner shrimps, marble shrimps and tapestry shrimps (both are saron shrimp and oh so colourful!)
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The following day, we had a little change of plan because the princess of Thailand wanted to go diving in the similans and closed a few sites to make sure she wouldn't meet any diver underwater... Fun to think  the Similan islands as a Royal-worthy dive destination. Three big military ships where guarding the princess and made sure we didn't get close... 
​

We dove at elephant head rock first where we saw 2  resident Ribbon eel (black and blue), a tinny octopus and tunas. Our second dive was at shark fin reef which had many huge boxfish hanging out and a school of batfish. The third dive was at boulder city and a group got super lucky with a Leopard shark!

I think they are my favorite type of shark... what's yours?
​
soft and hard coral mixing
leopard shark
Franck didn't get lucky this time but our guest got a shot of this gorgeous leopard shark :)
A smooth cruising down south to Koh Lanta National Park where we dove the next day around Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, including a wonderful night dive! On this second night dive this week we encountered many crustaceans and morays including another pair of harlequin shrimps!
thorny seastar on vibrant reef
barrel sponge blur effect
Despite being tired by 4 dives that day, quite a few guests and most staff were also up for a big new year celebration, starting with a succulent barbecue and ending up dancing on the sundeck with music, hats and party favors! We all ended up drinking champagne (courtesy of the smiling seahorse) with  bright hats on our head, blowing party horns to the sea breeze :) Fun times! 
perfect new year celebration on diving Liveaboard
scuba divers celebrating new year in thailand
Tarutao National Park and his famous 8 miles (12.87 km) rock for the two first dives of 2023 were wonderful ! Mobula , frogfish, seahorse and huge school of Jack.
Following by the incredible Stonehenge and his beautiful coral garden where a school or Baraccuda came by to say hello to the lense. That day ended with a 
Blackwater dive on our way back West.
baraccuda at Stonehenge- Thailand
wonderful school of baraccuda in the sunrays
diving with barracuda school

What we see Blackwater diving in Thailand

larval fish blackwater in thailand
crab blackwater in thailand
crustaceans blackwater in thailand
blackwater in thailand
Back to Lanta National Park, the cameras flashed again in front of harlequin shrimps, a massive stone fish and the amazing wall full of soft coral of Hin Daeng (Red) and Hin Muang (Purple).
We spent the rest of the day in Koh Haa, hunting a variety of nudibranch that even some guides had never seen before ! We went through the scenic Cathedral and Chimney perfect prop for our annual group picture!
thailand diving with a frogfish
picachu nudibranch
jellyfish
tomatoe grouper
Last day but not least, Bida Nok with its many black tip reef sharks and their dense school of yellowback fusilier.
Last dive before heading back to Phuket was at Shark Point with the perfect finish to this wonderful cruise: a long and chill encounter of a Zebra Shark !
 
Stay tuned for our next adventure ! Thanks for reading, more fishy stories for you next week !
group Picture underwater
Not easy to take a group picture underwater without bubbles in everybody's face!
happy new year scuba divers!
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    The Smiling Seahorse Diving Blog

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  • When & Where
    • Schedule and Prices
    • Destinations >
      • North Andaman Thailand >
        • Similan Islands
        • Surin Islands >
          • Richelieu rock
        • The essential Underwater photo Guide to diving Thailand
      • South Andaman Thailand >
        • Phuket & Koh Phi Phi National Parks
        • Koh Lanta National Park
        • Koh Lipe and Tarutao National Park
      • Mergui Archipelago >
        • Marine life in the Andaman Sea
        • Burma's best dive sites
        • The Ultimate Underwater photo Guide to diving Burma
  • ABOUT
    • Our Boat >
      • DELICIOUS FOOD
    • Diving in Thailand
    • Diving in Myanmar/Burma
    • Itineraries
    • Blackwater diving in Thailand
    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • Dive Courses >
      • Learn to Dive
      • Continue diving education
      • Rescue diver
      • Professional Dive Courses
      • Hone your dive skills with a PADI specialty course
      • Photo coaching in Thailand on the Smiling Seahorse
    • Guest Book
    • FAQ
  • Plan your trip
    • Our hotels recommendations
    • Khao Sok National Park
    • Taxi services >
      • Taxi services to and from Ranong
      • Taxi services to and from Phuket
      • Taxi services to Tap Lamu and Khao Lak
    • 10 things to do around Ranong
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Special Expeditions >
      • Ultimate Underwater photo combo expeditions
      • Video & photo expedition North Andaman 05 Nov 2023
      • Blackwater expedition 23 Jan 2024
      • UW Photo clinic North Andaman 31 Jan 2024
      • Special Marine Biology - 18 Feb 2024
      • Whale Shark Special - 19 Mar 2024 - North and South
      • Manta rays expedition - 20 April 2024
  • gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • CONTACT
  • BLOG
    • Most popular posts